Florida’s Teddy Dupay is the leader of S’boalnation, an advocacy group fighting for the legalization of marijuana. He talks about the benefits of legalizing marijuana and why making money in the process isn’t a bad thing (run time is 9:22; transcript below the jump). Editor’s note: The interview was edited for time constraints
Lost Lettermen: This is Jose Bosch from LostLettermen.com and I’m joined by Florida’s Teddy Dupay, member of the 2000 NCAA Tournament runners up and currently a spokesperson for S’boalnation, an advocacy group that is campaigning for the legalization of marijuana. Teddy thanks for joining us today.
First thing, our readers always ask “where are they now?” and again, as I said before, you are currently a spokesperson for S’boalnation. For the readers that don’t know exactly what that is, could you just explain a little bit about what is S’boalnation and what is it that you guys do?
Teddy Dupay: You bet man. You talk about the S’boalnation. Obviously we are an advocacy group. First and foremost, though, we say we’re committed to solutions. It just so happens right now that before you can talk about a solution you’ve got to figure out what a problem is first.
And the biggest problems our country faces right now as well as the biggest country most people face is the economy. It’s what’s happening financially. We realized that obviously legalizing marijuana, industrializing hemp, utilizing it as a fuel source like it once was with Henry Ford. Utilizing it as a fuel source, utilizing as a medicine source; using it as a recreation … economic stimulus.
It’s something that can be a big time solution for us on an economic scale and the way we’ve set up the S’boalnation, it’s also a solution for each and every individual because we have set up through an affiliate marketing, really trying to grow the group, understanding that there’s strength in number.
We pay people for their participation and bringing other like-minded individuals to the cause. So we really try to provide solutions on all fronts. It just so happens that legalizing cannabis and ending the prohibition on cannabis provides a lot of solutions to the majority of problems we do face right now.
LL: Here on your website sboalnation.com in one of the videos you say that you’re an advocacy group that promotes the legalization of marijuana for the quote “right reasons.” Could you kind of explain what is it that you guys are promoting that … explain a little bit more how that is … what is right as opposed to the people who think that this movement is just an excuse to get high.
TD: Well, for some people I think maybe they should be allowed to if they want to. I personally don’t use marijuana. If I got sick with cancer or somebody else in my family did though and it was the only medicine that enabled me to live a normal live, I would sure want to be allowed to use it. Unfortunately in the state I live in that would make me a criminal to be sick. We don’t think that’s right.
We understand the environment is a big problem. The very first car ever ran on hemp gasoline. If you do a little bit of research and a little due diligence, which typically people who are hard core against marijuana, they typically just haven’t done that. They just believe what somebody told them to be true years ago. What they heard through the grapevine and what their parents told them and they really haven’t taken the time to educate themselves on the fact that Henry Ford; the first car ever ran on hemp gasoline.
Hemp is an unbelievable food source. There’s a lot of hungry people across the world in our cities that could use a very nutritious food source that grows from a weed that’ll grow anywhere the sun will shine.
Clothing. Fifty percent of this country’s pesticides go toward producing cotton. Hemp doesn’t need any pesticides. It’s a natural herbicide. The list goes on and on.
Paper. We cut down a football sized … in the Amazon we cut down a football-sized field of trees every ten seconds. Why would we do that? The subsequent water; the subsequent runoff from our irreplaceable water supply, we can’t replace that. We can get four times more pulp for paper from one acre of hemp than you can from one acre of rain forest.
When you really take a look at all the amazing things that the hemp plant can do, that the cannabis plant can do, just think it makes more sense to legalize it, tax it, utilize it, industrialize; it just makes more sense than the current situation we’re in right now.
LL: You’ve talked about how there wasn’t really anything in it before. So that brings me to my next question, you have a pretty unique way; S’boalnation has a unique way about going it; this whole idea of being compensated for bringing people along. Other organizations which are more mainstream like NORML for instance, is a non profit.
In the story that we have linked on our website at one point you were asked about whether or not this was a pyramid scheme and you said it wasn’t. Could you kind of just explain why this isn’t a pyramid scheme compared to actual pyramid scheme?
TD: Absolutely. Great question, great question. There’s a fine line between network marketing and pyramiding. Or ponzi some people call; multi-level marketing, affiliate marketing.
There are strict, strict guidelines and in the 1980s Amway debated the federal government defining what was legal and what was illegal. I guess you could compare it very similar to grand theft auto and a car repossession. What’s the difference? One is illegal, one is very illegal.
We’re in perfect guidelines. I paid a few hundred thousand dollars just to kind of get the business off the ground for consulting, for infrastructure, backbone, so on and so forth. But consulting was a big part of that. We have a full legal team.
Network marketing is proven. Word of mouth marketing is proven to be the quickest way to get the word out to the masses. And it’s also the easiest way to reward somebody fairly for their participation.
Typically when somebody gets an hourly wage they either do less than what’s expected or they do more than what they’re expected. Nobody’s paid fairly.
And this is also in a way supply and demand. In a tough economy network marketing … there’s a reason Donald Trump has the Trump Network. There’s a reason Robert Kiyosaki has started network companies, there’s a reason Tony Robbins has a network marketing company. It’s because for a very little price point you can enjoy all the different tax benefits that every business in our country enjoys and it also gives you an opportunity to replace or supplement your income.
LL: What do you say that … people can look at this and say that you yourself and the other people involved in S’boalnation benefit from marijuana staying illegal. How do you respond to that?
TD: Nobody benefits from marijuana staying illegal. It costs tax dollars. I’ve been speaking with a lot of people. I actually have an anonymous, a person who asked to remain anonymous, working on Capitol Hill fighting legislation on the front lines. They estimate we spend $50 billion annually to attempt to prohibit marijuana; which we don’t do.
It’s not impossible to get. You go to your next door neighbor it’s definitely there. It’s very widely used. We’re padding the pockets of organized crime. Mexican cartels, there’s people dying. More people die in home invasions who have been trying to catch people with marijuana than anybody who has ever died from the plant it prohibits.
Nobody benefits from us continuing our destructive habits on the planet. Nobody benefits from us not exploring every avenue for new biofuels. Nobody benefits when we continue to cut down trees for paper when there is a better alternative, sustainable resource that we can use instead.
I tell you; in a perfect world marijuana would be legal tomorrow. People would stand up for what they believe in, we’d get this right. And then the S’boalnation being focused on solutions, we would take our advocacy efforts and move toward something else that needs our attention and needs our energy.
Right now it just so happens to be that ending cannabis prohibition is a very simple fix. We don’t need new technology. It doesn’t take millions and billions of dollars. All it takes is for people to really just see the light and be open minded to look at the facts and make these changes.
It’s an overnight fix.
LL: Do you sometimes worry that some of the people that come in are doing this for the wrong reasons?
TD: You know and that’s the best part about it, there is no wrong reason. There is no wrong reason. Some people might come aboard and really push this and maybe they don’t believe in ending the prohibition on cannabis. However we provide a solution to them for their own personal economy.
If somebody comes aboard our program, understanding that all the tools are in place. We have a great structure, we have fantastic leadership. We have nothing but the best intentions and integrity.
If somebody comes aboard just for personal gain, just to make money to help feed their family or help them satisfy some nice goals and they can see they can do that through this that is the right reason. That’s one of the reasons we did this
LL: Final question at least relating to marijuana, right now where you sit, how far away are you and your fellow advocates from getting marijuana legalized in the entire country?
TD: It’s really tough to say. It’s really tough to say. I don’t think it’s very far. I tell you, if Obama’s approval rating keeps plummeting like has been happening, I have a hunch that he’s going to take a little bit different position come next presidential election.
And definitely by the next presidential election the person that wins the candidacy will be a pro cannabis legalization. Absolutely 100 percent. They’re going to have to be if they want to get elected.
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One Comment
This interview makes me hungry…